Volunteer Opportunity at Rainbow Bridge in September

A really great book to read about dark skies is "The Wild Dark--Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light" by Craig Childs. Of course, all of his books are awesome because he likes to write about the desert southwest.

Another book I recently read about birding, "Turning to Birds" by Lili Taylor, mentions how migratory birds struggle with our light pollution, since all of their migration routes are right over major metropolitan areas, and the light blinds and confuses them, since they fly at night. During peak migration time, it just so happens to fall during September 11th--when the two light beams from the Twin Towers shine brightly at night. Bird advocates are trying to get the lights turned off for 20 minutes each hour, so the birds can re-orient themselves and keep flying. Apparently, they get stuck in the light beams circling aimlessly using up most of their strength and energy, and many will fall from the sky or die.

Ah, now I'm off track talking about birds. ;)
Interesting stuff to think about. As for me, my favorite place to be on a dark sky night is somewhere deep up the Escalante on a "new moon" night. No neighbors, no noise, just peace and quiet.

Tiff

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